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tv   Politics Public Policy Today  CSPAN  October 5, 2012 8:00pm-10:30pm EDT

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back and continue the conversation. those i'm sure they would be happy to chat with you. and i hope you'll join me in thanking our speakers today for a lively discussion. [applause] >> see the only vice-presidential debate next thursday night, live on c-span. c-span radio and c-span.org. watch and engage. next our road to the white house coverage continues with president obama and republican presidential candidate mitt romney. at rallies in virginia. then a conversation with syndicated columnist ann coulter. >> the bureau of labor statistics has announced that the u.s. unemployment rate has dropped from 8.1% to 7.8% in
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september. the lowest level since january, 2009. president obama spoke about the job pick fewer at this rally at george mason university in fairfax, virginia. it's about 30 minutes. >> hello, everybody! [cheers and applause] ♪ hello, george mason! [cheers and applause] hello, patriots! [cheers and applause] good to see you guys. thank you. thank you. [cheers and applause] thank you! thank you. thank you so much.
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thank you. [cheers and applause] thank you. everybody, have a seat. have a seat. thank you. well, it is good to be here. i am so proud to have katherine's support. can you give her a big round of applause for that great introduction. [applause] it's also good to know that we've got the former governor and next united states senator from the commonwealth of virginia, tim kaine! and your congressman, jerry conley. [cheers] and good to see all of you.
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so one month. just one month from tomorrow, virginia, you're going to step into a voting booth, and you are going to have a very big choice to make. i know folks in this crowd may have already made some decisions. [cheers] but for the undecideds that are here as well as those who are watching today, i said this before, this is a choice not just between two candidates or two parties but a choice between two fundamentally different visions for america. and today, i believe that as a nation, we are moving forward again. we're moving forward. [applause] after losing about 800,000 jobs
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a month when i took office, our businesses have now added 5.2 million new jobs over the past 2 1/2 years. [applause] this morning, we found out that the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since i took office. [cheers] more americans entered the work force, more people are getting jobs. now, every month reminds us that we've still got too many of our friends and neighbors who are looking for work. and there are too many middle class families that are still struggling to pay the bills. they were struggling long before the crisis hit. but today's news certainly is not an excuse to try to talk down the economy to score a few political points.
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it's a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now. [applause] because of your strength and resilience, the strength and resilience of the american people, we've made too much progress to return to the policies that led to the crisis in the first place. i can't allow that to happen. i won't allow that to happen. and that is why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states! [cheers and applause] i have seen too much pain, seen too much struggle to let this country get hit with another round of top-down economics. one of the main reasons we had this crisis is because big banks on wall street were allowed to make big bets with other people's money and
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governor romney wants to roll back the rules we put in place to stop that behavior? that's not going to happen. that is not going to happen. [applause] one of the main reasons record surpluses under bill clinton were turned into record deficits under george bush is because we put two wars and two tax cuts on a credit card. and now governor romney wants another $5 trillion in tax cuts that he can't pay for? not if i have anything to say about it. that's not going to happen. [applause] we are not going to let this country fall backward. not now. not with so much at stake. we've got to move forward. we need to invest in small business and manufacturers who create jobs here in the united states. we need to recruit 100,000 math and science teachers, train two million workers at community college, bring down the cost of college tuition. we need to --
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[cheers and applause] we need to cut our oil imports in half. create thousands more jobs in clean energy. we need to use the savings from ending the wars in iraq and afghanistan to help pay down our deficit and put people back to work doing some nation building right here at home. that's the agenda we need. that's how you strengthen the middle class. that's how you keep moving forward. that's the choice in this election. and that's why i'm running for a second term. that's what we need. now, my opponent has been trying to do a two-step and reposition and got -- got an extreme makeover.
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[applause] but the bottom line is his underlying philosophy is the top-down economics that we've seen before. he thinks that if we just spend another $5 trillion on tax cuts that yes, skewed toward the wealthiest, if we get rid of more regulations on wall street, then our problems will be solved. jobs and prosperity will rain down from the sky. the deficits will magically disappear. we will live happily ever after. [laughter] even though he's been proposing this plan for months now, he's had a little trouble explaining just how it would work without blowing a hole in the deficit or making middle class families pick up the tab. the other night he ruled out asking millionaires and billionaires to pay even a dime more in taxes. he said there's no way that he would close the loophole that gives big oil companies
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billions each year in corporate welfare. ending tax breaks for corporations that move jobs and profits overseas, he'd never heard of such a thing. who knew? [laughter] who knew? [applause] when he was asked what he'd actually do to cut spending and reduce the deficit, he -- his big example was to go after public television. so for all you moms and kids out there, don't worry. somebody is finally getting tough on big board. [laughter] rounding them up. elmo's got to watch out, too. governor romney plans to let wall street run wild again but bring the hammer down on "sesame street." it makes perfect sense.
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[applause] virginia, we can't afford to double down on the same old top-down economic policies that caused this mess in the first place. we cannot afford another round of tax cuts for the wealthy. we can't afford to gut our investments in education. or clean energy. or research. and technology. we can't afford to roll back regulations on wall street banks or oil companies or insurance companies. that is not a jobs plan. it's not a plan to grow our economy. it's sure not a plan to strengthen our middle class. we have been there. we have tried that. we're not going back. we are moving forward. we've got a different view about how we create jobs and prosperity in this country. [applause] this country doesn't just succeed when just a few are doing well at the top. succeed is when the middle lass gets bigger. our economy doesn't grow from the top down. it grows from the middle out.
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we don't -- we don't believe that anybody's entitled to success in in country. but we do believe in opportunity. we believe in a country where hard work pays off. and responsibility is rewarded. and everybody's getting a fair shot. and everybody's doing their fair share. and everybody's playing by the same rules. that's the country we believe in. that's what we've been fighting for for the last four years. that's what we are going to put in place in the next four years if you re-elect me as president of the united states of america. that's what we're going to do. [cheers and applause]
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>> four more years! four more years! four more years! four more years! four more years! four more years! four more years! >> now, today i want to also talk about economic issues that didn't get enough attention in the debate the other night. and that's economic issues that have a direct impact on women and as a consequence, have a direct impact on families. when it comes to the economy, it's bad enough that our opponents want to take us back to the failed policies of the last decade. when it comes to a woman's right to make her own health care choices, they want to take us back to the policies of the 1950's. this election is your chance to make sure that doesn't happen, virginia. the decisions that affect a woman's health aren't up to politicians. they're not up to insurance companies. they're up to you. they're up to you.
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[cheers] you deserve a president who will fight to keep it that way. that's the president i've been. that's the president i'll be if you give me a second term. you don't have to take me -- you don't have to take me at my word. you can look at my record. four years ago, i said i'd pass health reform before the end of my first term. thanks to your help, that's what we did. [applause] the new health care law helps make sure you don't have to worry about going broke just because you or a loved one gets sick. insurance companies can no longer put lifetime limits on your care. or jack up your premiums without reason. or drop your coverage when you need it most. they can no longer discriminate against children with pre-existing conditions. and soon they will no longer be able to deny you coverage based
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on pre-existing conditions like breast cancer or charge you more for the same care just because you're a woman. this law has already allowed nearly seven million young adults under the age of 26 to sign up and stay on their parents' health care plan. it's already saved millions of seniors on medicare hundreds of dollars on their prescription medicine. and millions of americans have actually gotten a rebate from their insurance company if that company -- you got one? [applause] i wanted to say -- i mean, she was a supporter. but i didn't know about --
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[laughter] you get a rebate if the insurance company spent too much on demitch costs and c.e.o. -- administrative costs on -- and c.e.o. bonuses. this health care has secured new access to preventative care like mammograms and cancer screening was no co-pay, no deductible, no out-of-pocket costs for more than 20 million women. [applause] and now most health plans are beginning to cover the cost of contraceptive care. which is vital for women's health. doctors prescribe contraception not only for family planning but as a way to reduce the risk of ovarian and other cancers. and it's good for our health care system in general. cause we know the overall cost of care is lower when women have access to contraceptive services. now, before this new law, many health ce plans charged high
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deductibles or co-pays for these preventable services or didn't cover them at all. according to one study, more than half of all women put off the care they needed because of that. how many of you have gone without the care you needed or the checkup because were you worried the insurance co-pay would go too high and you codn't afford gas or groceries or your kids' new soccer uniform and you've had to make choices. and sacrifices. i don't think a working mom in arlington should have to wait a-to-get a mammogram just because money is tight. i don't think a college student in fairfax or charlottesville should have to choose between textbooks or the preventative care that she needs. that's why we passed this law. and i am proud of it. it was the right thing to do. and we are going to keep it. [applause] now, my opponent has a different view. the other night he said he would repeal obamacare as soon as he took office.
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don't boo. vote. vote. vote. but after he said that, then he backtracked and said no way, at least i'll make sure to cover folks with pre-existing conditions. and then i have explained, well, actually, your pl doesn't do that. and then his campaign had to come out and say, actually, that's not true or the plan wouldn't do that. so governor romney was fact checked by his own campaign. [laughter] that's rough. that's rough. [applause] even they know his plan would take away coverage for tens of millions of americans. governor romney said he'd get rid of planned parenthood funding. apparently this along with big
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bird is driving the deficits. [laughter] and he would have supported an extreme measure in massachusetts that would have outlawed some form of contraception. he joined the far right of his party to support a bill that would allow any employer to deny contra septemberive coverage to their -- contra septemberive coverage to their employees. think about that. your boss telling you what's best for your health and safety. let me tell you something, virginia. i don't think your boss should control the care you get. i don't think insurance companies should control the care you get. i definitely don't think politicians on capitol hill should control the care you get. we've seen some of their attitudes. we've read about those. i think there's one person who gets to make decisions about your health care. that's you.
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[applause] my opponent has called himself severely conservative. but let me tell you something, there's nothing conservative as katherine made clear, there's nothing conservative about a government that prevents a woman from making her own health care decisions. governor romney talks about freedom. but freedom is the ability to determine the care you need when you need it. freedom is the ability to change jobs or start your own business without the fear of losing your health insurance. freedom is the knowledge that you'll no longer be charged more than men for the same health care. or denied affordable coverage just because you've beat cancer. and at a time when women make up nearly half the work force, and an increasing share of family bread winners, these are not just health issues or women's issues. these are economic issues that are vital and affect every family in america. they matter.
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when -- when a woman is the main bread winner for her family but takes home less pay for the same work, as a man does because she's a woman, that is not right. when my opponent's campaign was asked if he'd support legislation given -- giving women the tools to fight for an equal day's pay for an equal day's work, he said we'll get back to you on that and since then refused to explain his position. you've already got my answer. upholding the principle of equal pay for equal work, that was one of the first bills i signed into law. [cheers and applause] i named two extraordinary women who understand these issues on the supreme court, the highest court in the land. and remember the next president, the next congress, could tip the balance of the court in a way that turns back the clock for women and their families for decades to come.
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the choice between going backward and moving forward has never been so clear. virginia, we don't need a president who's promised to rubber stamp the top-down agenda of the republicans in this congress. we don't want to go back. we've got to go forward. from the day we began this campaign, we've always said that real change takes time. it takes more than one year or one term or even one president. it takes more than one party. it certainly can't happen if you're willing to write off half the nation before you even take office. [applause] people forget back in 2008, 47% of the country didn't vote for me. but on the night of the election, i said to all those americans, i said, i may not
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have won your vote, but i hear your voices. and i need your help. and i will be your president, too. [applause] and virginia, i don't know how many of you will vote for me this time around. but i promise you -- but i promise you no matter how many do, i will be your president, too. no matter what, i'll be fighting for you. because i'm not just fighting for democratic jobs or republican jobs. i'm fighting for american jobs. i'm not just fighting for good schools in blue states or red states. i'm fighting for good schools in the united states. the values that we are fighting for and care about of hard work and looking out for one another, those are not rich
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values or poor values or business values or worker values or red, white, black, asian, it doesn't matter. they are american values. they are american values. [applause] and if we rally around a new economic patriotism together, if we reclaim our values, we will rebuild this economy. we'll strengthen the middle class. we'll keep moving forward. i am confident our politics is not as divided as our politics suggests. i do -- i believe we've got more in common than the pundits are willing to tell you. i still believe in you, and i hope you still believe in me. and if you are willing to get out there and make some phone calls and knock on some doors, beat the pavement, if you'll vote for me in november, we
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will win fairfax county again. we will win virginia again. we'll finish what we've started. and i remind the world, alongside you, why it is that the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth, god bless you, virginia. thank you. god bless you, united states of america. [cheers and applause] >> ♪ i've been looking for the path that leads me home those good intentions we take care of our own ♪
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♪ we take care of our own we take care of our own ♪ ♪
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♪ we take care of our own we take care of our own ♪ ♪
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♪ ♪
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[cheers and applause] ♪ >> tomorrow, we're going to show you some of the vice-presidential debates of the past 25 years. we'll begin at 7:00 p.m. eastern with the 2004 debate between vice president dick cheney and senator john edwards. followed by senator joe biden and governor sarah palin debating in 2008. then the 1984 meeting of vice president george bush and representative geraldine ferraro. and senator dan quayle and senator lloyd bentsen debating in 1988. it all begins tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span.
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c-span's campaign 2012 debate hub website provides live and on demand coverage of all the presidential and vice-presidential debates. and it's the only place where you'll see our live coverage of behind-the-scenes sights and sounds before and after the debates. the site has each debate question available as a separate clip. where you can search and watch by topic, watch viewer-created clips as well. and read streaming tweets from political reporters and other viewer reactions at c-span's 2012 campaign debate hub. go to c-span.org/debates. >> governor mitt romney -- >> republican presidential candidate mitt romney says that the unemployment rate has come down because people have stopped looking for work. and that fewer jobs have been created this month than last. he spoke at a campaign rally at carter machinery company in abingdon, virginia. this is about 30 minutes.
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♪ thank you. free ♪ born >> wow, that is quite welcome. thank you, va. carey had -- a virginia. >> we love you. i love you too. [chanting mitt] >> thank you.
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gosh, i just spent half an hour with some of your fine citizens in this area. folks who are working who want to keep working in this area. a wonderful couple that has a farm and they wonder if they will be able to keep it because the husband lost his job. these are tough times in this community. but you are strong and confident and patriotic people and we are going to bring back jobs and bring back america. somewhere, morgan griffith this year. where is he? how are you? good to see you. you have to be sure to reelect this guy. he is one of the best. by the way, we have the governor here today but he is in florida campaigning for me. he is doing great work. a great governor. you may know that a couple of
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nights ago we had a debate. you may have the chance to see that. [applause] it was a good experience, i think for me, the president, for the people who watched. we talked about the issues that america faces. i got a chance to ask the president some questions i think people of the country have wanted to ask him such as why it was that when america was needing jobs he was pushing for obamacare instead of getting jobs to the american people. i asked him why there are 23 million americans that are out of work. struggling to find full-time jobs. i got the chance to ask him about the middle-class and why it is so buried. in comes have come down. prices of gasoline have doubled. food and clothing and almost everything else has gone up. people in the middle class have been squeezed.
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got the chance to ask him why he is cutting $716 billion for medicare. that is not the right thing to do. and he is in favor of a tax plan that will kill 700,000 jobs. he had the chance to answer those questions, or not answer them. i think even more important was the chance to talk about where we are going in the future and what he would do. he described a reiteration of the status quo. he is going to keep doing the things he has done in the past. he is going to have a stimulus. he's going to pick winners and losers -- losers. a friend of mine he does not like picking winners and losers. he just likes picking losers.
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he is in favor of higher taxes. yesterday the vice president blurted out the truth, saying they want to raise taxes $1 trillion. i do not want to raise taxes on any american because i want to create good jobs in america ought. [applause] i will take america in a different direction. i want to make sure our policies encourage job growth, and i have five things i will do. you have heard me describe them, that will get jobs growing in this country and in this part of virginia, because number one is to take full advantage of all our energy resources, oil, coal, gas, nuclear, and renewables. i know you care more about coal than the other ones i mentioned, but when the president was running for office, he said if you build a new coal-fired plant, you will go bankrupt. the head of the epa said the regulations on burning coals are so stringent it is impossible to build a new plant.
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i do not believe in putting our coal under the ground forever. we should take advantage of it and use the resource that is abundant, cheap, and can be burned in a clean way. i also believe in oil and gas, that we should develop our resources. within eight years north america should be energy independent, and that requires all those sources of energy. that will keep the price at the pump moderated, the price of electricity moderated, and it will mean a lot of good jobs. if we are serious about energy, really take advantage of the resources we have, you will create some 3.5 million to 4 million jobs. you are thinking about one job, your job. i am thinking about your job as well, person by person. every american deserves a good job.
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people are hard-working. i want to make sure your job stays here and provides a bright future for you and your family. i also believe in addition to energy that we have an opportunity to create more jobs by selling our goods and services abroad. i want to open up more trade with other nations. i will crack down on china. number three, i want to make sure our people have the skills they need to succeed. we have a lot of government training programs. that is all fine and well, except there are 47 of them, and they report to eight different agencies. the overhead costs of all this burden and bureaucracy is killing. i want to take the money the federal government is spending
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on training, send it back to virginia, its fair share, and let virginia do what is right for the people of virginia. let me mention as my number four, to get this economy going and create more good jobs, let me mention something about the deficit. this idea of every year america spending and the federal government $1 trillion more than we take in is bad for our economy cannot also bad for the next generation. i think it is immoral to spend more than we take in. i will cut federal spending, cap federal spending, and i will get on track to a balanced budget. people ask me how i will do that, and i will cut out programs we do not absolutely have to have. number two, i will make sure some programs but go back to the state where they can be run more efficiently.
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we will cut back on the federal government, and one program i will get rid of is "obamacare." finally, to mention a fifth idea, i want to champion small business. i want to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start businesses, to grow, and i know how to do that. the president has an unusual tax plan, to raise taxes on successful small businesses that happen to employ 1/4 of all america's private-sector work force, from 35% to 40%. when you take that with state income tax and payroll tax and real-estate taxes and gasoline taxes, all together that means small business that are highly successful will end up giving more of what they have the government. that will kill jobs. i do not want to kill jobs.
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my priority is to create jobs, and i will do that with everything i can do. we can do better. we do not have to stay on the path we have been on. there was a report that came out this morning on job creation this last month. there were fewer new jobs created this month than last month. the unemployment rate has come down very slowly, but it has come down nonetheless. the reason it has come down this year is due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work. if you drop out of the workforce, give up and say i cannot go back to work, i will stay home, if you drop out altogether, you're no longer part of the statistics. it looks like unemployment is getting better, but if the same share of people were participating in the workforce today as on day the president got elected, unemployment would be around 11%.
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that is the real reality. people who have jobs are having a tough time. the middle class is being squeezed with incomes that have gone down by $4,300 a family. this cannot go on. when i'm president, that unemployment rate will come down, not because people are giving up and dropping out of the workforce, because we are creating more jobs. i will create jobs and get america working again. so the american people have a choice. i think both men, we have individuals who care deeply about our country and the people of america. we would lead america in different ways. this president calls his policies going forward. i called his policies
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forewarned. we know where they have been because we have seen them over the last four years. we have seen 20 million people out of work. we have seen incomes go down. we have seen trillion-dollar deficits. the road this president has put us on looks like europe, which is not working and it will not work here. if the president is reelected, this president will have a trillion-dollar deficit every year, we will end up with a $20 trillion debt, and you do not see that money, you do not see that that, but you will be paying the interest on it all your lives, and then your kids will be paying for it, and you will be wondering why the government is doing this and it is racking up all the interest. he would take us down a path like europe. there are countries on the verge of fiscal collapse or
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calamity or crisis. that is the path he is taking us on. i will take us on a different course. i will help create 12 million new jobs and rising take-home pay. i will get us on track to a balanced budget. i will restore personal freedom in part by getting rid of "obamacare" and return to people the right they have to deal with their own health care with their own physicians. this president is trying to make all their numbers work by cutting in one place. that is our military. that is the one place he seems to be willing to take a pretty big meat cleaver to. he had his own budget which cut the military, but had this idea of the sequestration which would cut it even more. he is cutting about $1 trillion out of the military.
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did you know we have fewer ships in the navy today that any time since 1917? the air force is older and smaller in its fleet than at any time since 1947 when it was formed. you know our troops were stretched to the limit in iraq and afghanistan, and yet he wants to shrink the number of troops, shipbuilding, purchases of aircraft. i will take us in a different direction. i will maintain a military second to none that is so strong no one will ever test us, we will add to our navy, air force, and to our active-duty personnel. >> usa! >> one of the great experiences i have had is meeting men and women who have served in our military. i deeply respect and appreciate
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the sacrifice that they have made, and i appreciate the sacrifice of their families and those that have been lost and their families. i wonder if those who are here today who have served in the military or are serving will please to raise their hands and be recognized. wow. thank you. this is a beautiful corner of god's creation, but that wonderful line from one of our national hymns comes to mind, "oh beautiful, for heroes proved in liberating strife who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life!" i love our national heroes, the men and women of our armed forces. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. we face a critical time. we face a time when too many americans are out of work, when too many americans are tired of
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being tired. we face a time when kids wonder if the future will be as bright for them as it has been for their parents, when there is tumult in the middle east and people are asking where is american leadership? this is a critical time. if we were to reelect the president, we would not measure up to the test of time. i understand what it takes to restore the vitality of our economy, and that will allow us to restore the strength of our military and continue to lead the world. their verdict depends upon it. i was in san diego, and i sat with a number of veterans from world war ii. one was actually on the uss tennessee on the day that their ship was attacked in pearl harbor. he was in the lookout post. he could actually lock eyes with the pilots who were delivering armament.
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he served three -- 33 more years even though he was injured during the attack. the men like him sacrificed enormously for us for our prosperity and our freedom and held aloft a torch where the world to see, towards freedom and hope and opportunity. now there are not as many as there used to be in the greatest generation, not as strong, that are still with us. they cannot hold the torch quite as high. it is our turn to grab that torch and hold it aloft. and we are going to do it. i need you guys to all voters. we need to take back america and keep america the shining city on the hill. i love this great country. i believe in you. we will take america back so that the world will wonder at the great things we have achieved. thank you, virginia, god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. thank you.
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i was born free ♪ born free free like a river raging stronger heart you't see my must be blind you can knock me down and watch me bleed but you can't keep no chains on me i was born free!
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i was born free born free i'm not good at long goodbyes but look down deep into my eyes i was born free calm, facing danger lost like an unknown stranger
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grateful for my time with no great -- no regrets close to my destination tire, frail and aching waiting patiently for the sun to set and when it's done believe that i will yell it from that mountain high i was born free i was born free born free i will bow to shining seas grace on mee god's
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i was born free i was born free born free [vocalizing]
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♪ we need more jobs today in tehe usa
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i want my label to say made in the usa give a level playing field to us best cars ande trucks we can make our land what it needs to be i want my american --
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it will be better if it's made by my neighbor next door i want my label to say made in the usa american jobs in the usa american jobs in the usa
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driving down the street i saw a sign for lemonade as they handed me my glass i was thinking to myself what a picture postcard this would make of america it's a high school progm m it's a man on a moon lemonade selling one nation under god it's america
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later on i flipped the tv on i was thinking to myself glad i live in america it's a high school prom kids selling lemonade it's cities and farms one nation under god it's america
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we might not always get it right but there's nowhere else i'd rather build my life it's a kid with a chance it's a rock and roll band blowing in the summer wind over some fallen hero's grave farmsities and open arms one nation under god it's america it's america
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♪ time to start the show this is our moment this is our time we're laying it all on the line this is our destiny
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shineur night ot this is our moment this is our time we been playing guitars since we were boys trying to impress pretty girls wtih a lot of noise it up, time to turn to rock and roll time to start the show this is our moment backe ain't holding we're laying it all on the line this is our destiny shineur night to this is our moment this is our time
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it's time to turn it up time to rock and roll time to take the field time to start the show this is our this is our time and we ain't holding back we're laying it all on the line this is our destiny this is our night to shine this is our moment this is our time this is our moment this is our time ♪
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♪ a fiddle and a steel guitar lisp to the sound of the american heart -- listen to the sound of the american heart music on saturday night brings a smile to your face and a tear to your eye the song about the heartland the only place i feel at home sing about the way a good man works until the daylight's gone rain on the roof on a summer night
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still know wrong from right all about the heartland sing a song about my life ♪ sing a song about the heartland the only place i feel at home ♪ >> see the only vice-presidential debate next thursday night live on c-span. c-span radio and c-span.org. watch and engage. next, a conversation with syndicated columnist ann koulter and we'll talk with katrina vanden he. vel, editor and publisher of the nations and then about google and antitrust laws. sunday, a debate in the u.s. senate race in connecticut
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between republican linda mcmahon, the former c.e.o. of world wrestling entertainment, and democratic u.s. congressman chris murphy. our live coverage begins at 11:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> on the day the fourth or sixth day i can't recall after being in office, we were sitting in the oval office and larry summers, chief economic advisor and came in and said mr. president, looking at this year's budget, you are going to have a trillion dollar deficit. he said, i haven't done anything yet. >> we cannot keep looking our children in the eye knowing that we're going to give them a diminished future because we're spending their money today. it's a very simple idea. mitt romney and i are going to bring it to washington. we have got to stop spending money we don't have. we must cut spending.
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we must get this balanced budget. we must get this debt under control. >> next thursday night, congressman paul ryan and vice president joe biden will face off in their only debate. avens news' martha raddatz monitors from danville, kentucky. and you can watch and engage with c-span with our live debate preview starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern followed by that debate at 9:00. and your reactions, calls, emails and tweets at 10:30. follow our live coverage on c-span, c-span radio and online at c-span.org. now a conversation with syndicated columnist and author ann coulter. she was a guest on today's "washington journal." this is 45 minutes. >> ann coulter is with us this morning as you know, a syndicated columnist and has a new book out. this is number what for you? number nine. >> it is called "mugged." subtitle ragse demagoguery from
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the 1970's to obama. is we will talk to her about that. the starting point is two days after this debate, where do you think the presidential race is right now? >> i think mitt romney is looking very good. that's why the obama administration didn't want to run against mitt romney. he was clearly the most threatening of the republican candidates. i think he's the strongest candidate against obama. it's very hard to take out an incumbent. it's only happened at least republicans have only done it one time before in the last 100 years. when reagan beat carter. i guess isn't last time it's happened, when clinton took out bush. so it's curious, for example, that there were 70 million viewers of that debate the other night. the highest it's been since 1992, last time an incumbent was taken out. and i think that's because people are uncomfortable with obama. but if they're not political nuts, like we are, they haven't been paying attention, haven't been watching all of the debates. and they just want to see who the challenger is and whether
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they're comfortable with him. and i think after wednesday night, everybody's pretty comfortable with mitt romney. >> you were early. looking back i was reading back on your twitter feed last night and even back in february, you were saying conservatives should support mitt romney. >> yes. >> is that because he was the best of the field or you really feel good about his conservative credentials? >> i ran off as a biker for a while. i was totally with chris christie. two years ago. in my defense, people still thought varius congressmen who didn't even run were going to be the candidates. it was two cpacs away from the presidential election. because it's so hard to beat an incumbent president, i still love chris christie and i hope he does run for president someday. he was so brave in the way he took on the public sector unions the way no republican had ever done before and everybody loved it. and he was just so articulate and bright. and he had become this star. i thought we would probably lose this election. because you can't take out an incumbent. especially one who's personally
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likable as obama is. and then for one thing, chris christie made it very clear he wasn't running, but i supported romney back in 2008. and i changed my mind about being able to beat obama. though i don't think anyone could have done it. and mitt romney is not only best candidate to run against obama because in the past, he has basically forced his opponents to default. he did when he ran for the illinois legislature. he did it when he ran for the senate. he forced his democratic opponents in the primary, blair hull, was way ahead of him. and dug up some sealed divorce records and suddenly blair hull falls to the bottom of the pack and obama wins the primary. then he was running against a spectacular republican in the general election for senate from illinois. jaric ryan. just -- he's like a mitt romney of illinois. and i think he would have beaten obama. once again, obama campaign digs up sealed -- this time child
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custody records. jack ryan had been married to the cyborg from star trek voyager and she had made custody filing allegations that he took her to sex clubs. not that they entered. she said no. but simply the allegation that he had -- in new york and new orleans, and asked her to go to sex clubs. and the first sex scandal that involves a man asking his wife to have sex with him and taking no for an answer. but still the republicans demanded he withdraw and obama runs against alan keyes. a fine man. but the political acumen of somebody like me. i shouldn't be running for office, either. he hasn't -- obama hasn't faced a real opponent. so what are they going to get on -- i mean, we have -- we have a mormon whose roughest drink is a glass of chocolate milk and clearly a very decent man. and honorable man, an honest man. this is going to be a tough
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night for the obama team to crack. and i also think once he becomes president, mitt romney is exactly what this country needs right now. >> what do you expect the next couple of weeks are going to be like after the democrats' soul searching with the performance on wednesday? >> it is more than soul searching. it is hysteria -- i've been promoting the book to cover all the lies they're screaming about. the one on mitt romney wanting to cut taxes on the rich by $5 trillion, i think they say, let's just take that one. no, that is -- those are estimates made by a liberal tax group, the liberal tax group by the way has taken that estimate back. obama, the obama campaign was running ads on that. how romney wants to cut the taxes as romney explained very clearly in the debate the other night, no, i am not cutting taxes on the richest. what i want to do is lower rates overall by 20%. and eliminate loopholes,
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deductions, exemptions, that sort of thing. which i think all serious people who look at the tax code think needs to be done. it's the richest of all by the way who take the most advantage of tax deductions. that is a fairer way of looking at t maybe if you have a lot of deductions you don't want to get rid of them. but you always feel like with reductions, somebody else is getting a better deal than you are. mitt romney hasn't specified which deductions. i can think of a few we should get rid of like deductions for state and local taxes. why should the rest of the country be supporting the high tax rates of california and new york? but anyway, that's my position, not mitt romney's and he also explained in the debate, this is my general proposal. we'll argue about it. we'll talk about it. i'll take it to the democrats and we'll work it out. but even the tax policy center that claims this would be a $5 trillion tax cut for the rich has said -- has now admitted, well, we weren't calculating all the deductions that could be taken. we were just guessing which
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deductions he would eliminate. this is an opinion about what the result will be. well, republicans have a different opinion about the result. >> i want to open up the phone lines and invite you to join the conversation this morning. and we'll put those on the screen. you can tweet us and our email address if that's your preferred method of communication. we'll follow those in our discussion with ann coulter and will stay with us until 8:30. the new jobs numbers are out and so we want to have a chance to look at those and get her reaction to the political import of those. a few minutes on your book. what is your thesis? what are you trying to do with it? >> white guilt has never gotten anything good for america. it's always been a disaster. it's driven the races farther apart. i go through some of the stories from the golden age of racial demagoguery in the 1970's and 1980's when every time a cop shot a black kid, that would be months of hysteria about the klan taking
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over the new york city police force and slowly come out, well, actually, the kid was mugging the cop. and that -- it would disappear from the news pages. just racial hoaxes, noose that is were put up by the people themselves and so on and so forth. and the turning point in my book is the o.j. verdict. i go through the rodney king case. which many people in l.a. know the truth about but many others do not. a tv station specifically edited the beating tape in order to fuel ghetto rage, knowing what could happen because the media is desperately looking for another emmett till case when we are unlikely to get one now that the democrats aren't discriminating against blacks or lynching blacks, no one else is. the o.j. verdict. with the o.j. verdict, white america said that's it, the white guilt bank is shut down. and it ended up being a wonderful thing for america. and most of all, for black people. because they were no longer being patronized and coddled and treated like children.
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and many great things came out of that. i have a chapter sont post o.j. paradise. and now with obama, not because he's half black but because he's the most left wing president the country has ever seep, the media, the left, has brought all the racial demagoguery back. and i guess it's been long enough since o.j. that people forget what a disaster it is. obama doesn't -- doesn't engage in racial demagoguery quite as much as liberals in the media. but he puts it out there. he brings it up. he certainly -- hillary clinton during the primary and even a little bit toward john mccain and didn't need to. i saw this election season he can't run on his record would be full of claims of -a-imaginary racism. and ultimately the point of the book is don't fall for it again, america. >> one of the policies that came out of the 1970's is affirmative action. it's going to be reviewed again by the supreme court in another week and a half or so. so what are your views about the effectiveness of -- or lack
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thereof of affirmative action? >> my law firm, center for individual rights, brought the case against my alma mater. university of michigan law school. we won the law school case. we lost the undergrad case. and i think at this point, it is -- and there have been more recent studies about how it is a disaster for black people. but mostly i think it's a disaster for america. at this point, i will say, -- >> why? >> you get past discrimination by not discriminating on the basis of race. that's the way to do it. i will say one of the things that conservatives have generally not liked about richard nixon was of course he was the first one to impose racial quotas, time lines, on the construction industry that was doing business with the government. and, you know, people, my generation and below, grew up in a world without separate water fountains, without democrats slyke bull connor or volsavis or george wallace.
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in our lifetimes and i might add the president's lifetime, the only -- the only effects of being black is that it is an advantage. you are more likely to get into harvard. you are more likely to get into a top law school. so it was easier to be against the time lines, the racial quotas, i think it's been used in a corrupt way as years went on. but that is something i've changed my mind about. at leetch as concerns richard nixon. -- leetch as concerns richard nixon. anti-poll tax legislation and anti-lynching legislation and public accommodation legislation, with the democrats constantly blocking, blocking, blocking and the tricks they use, these were liberal democrats and not conservative democrats. you just become so frustrated that i think nixon was absolutely right. and you can hear the frustration in the speeches he gave about it. he said the building trades have been given long enough to voluntarily integrate their
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work forces. if they're going -- i've had it now. if they're going to refuse to hire black people, we're going to get results now. so i supported bark then. i think he was right. >> let me just add one other person's thought on affirmative action. get your response and we'll start taking calls. this is a piece in "the new york times" by a gentleman by the name of thomas epenshade and author of a new book no longer separate, not quite equal, race and class in elite college campus life, an associate professor at princeton and said it is beneficial but doesn't believe the court will support it in in case and writes if affirmative action is abolished, selective colleges and universities will face a stark choice. they can try to manufacture diversity by giving more weight and administration to those factors that are close substitutes for race, for example, having overcomedies advantage in poor urban neighborhood. or they can take a far bolder step, putting their endowments and influence behind a comprehensive effort to close
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the learning gap that starts at birth. higher education has a responsibility for all of education, the job of those atop the academic period is not over once they've enrolled a diverse freshman class. >> well, when you told me it was from "the new york times" i could have just told you i disagreed. you threw in sociology professor, absolutely disagree. no, look, i think -- affirmative action has become a way for liberals to pay for over the failure of the public schools. unlike liberals, i don't think blacks are stupider than whites. i think they are at a disadvantage, i completely agree with kleiza rice that the civil rights issue of our day is school choice and the disaster of the public schools, it is a universal law of nature that everything run by the government will become worse and more expensive over time. everything that is sold on the private market will become better and less expensive over time. like flat screen tv's, cell phones. versus the post office, public schools, and amtrak food
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service. and by the way, our entire health care is now going to be put in the hands -- in the capable hands of the federal government. >> one more school thing. also from "the new york times." >> i disagree. >> you may not. four decades after clashes, bottom of the again debates school busing. nearly four decades after the city was convulsed by violence over court-ordered segregation, boston is working to reduce its reliance on busing at a school system now made up of largely minority students. although court-ordered busing ended more than two decades ago, only 13% of students in boston, 13% in the public schools, today are white. and the school district buses, 64% of its students in kind garden through eighth grade to schools outside their immediate neighborhoods. the city tried twice in the last decade to change the system and failed both times. >> i don't write about busing in my book. i write about cases in which someone dies generally. they're the flashy case and i thought we had moved past
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busing considering what a catastrophe it was. but busing is the perfect met for -- metaphor for publish rals and race relations. -- for liberals and race relations. liberals will move heaven and earth to make sure their children go to lilly white private schools far, far away from the schools that they're fiddling with other people's lives. the problem with school busing it wasn't because liberals thought this was so important to send their children to school with people of different races. because they weren't doing that. no. that is for the little people. the other people. the people living in queens. and to be busing kids for hours every morning to go to a different neighborhood when black or white, you're going to want to go to school with people in your neighborhood. and not have to get up at 5:00 in the morning to be bused across town or even farther than that. tom wicker, long-time editor or op-ed writer for "the new york times" wrote obsessively about race. he seemed to think himself the only racially enlightened person in america.
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and then it comes out he's sending his kids to private schools. really? the one chance you have to mingle with black people, and you didn't take it. no. the one chance you had there, contrast that with republican charles pickering. a judge that was blocked by the democrats on sism rights grounds because he wasn't good on abortion. that's what liberals really mean by civil rights. abortion on demand. gay marriage. it has nothing to do with black people anymore. sorry. who was i talking about? >> pickering. >> not only when he won -- when the klan was a powerful force in mississippi, he was a prosecutor, prosecuting the klan and putting his life in jeopardy. and he sent his kids to public schools and not like it's not done. republicans do it. but oh, not white liberals. that's for the other people's kids. >> first call for you. missy in buffalo. this is republican on the line. good morning. ann coulter.
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>> good morning. i just wanted to say first of all, ann, that i think you're absolutely brilliant. i'm a 31-year-old republican and you are my role model. so i just wanted to say that first of all. i can't wait to read your book. the question that i had is your book covers the 1970's and 1980's and any analysis regarding the culture of denial when it comes to liberal minorities in regard to the one topic they constantly bring up with republicans and that's slavery. even though the republicans had a huge role in ending slavery, they still use that as a talking point against our party. and i want to know if you had any analysis on that. >> oh, yes. the apock raffle southern strategy, most historical rewrite in world history. my third book, "treason," i cut a large part of that book was telling the truth about joe
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mccarthy but that liberal historical revisionism only covered about five years. in the case of race relations in america, liberals have rewritten the history to cover 200 years. yeah, of course. republicans, yet, were the party to fight against slavery. and democrats were willing to stage a civil war to save slavery. but more than that. it was for the next 100 years with republican platforms year after year promoting anti-lynching legislation and anti-poll tax legislation and endorsing justice marshall -- well, eventually justice marshall but attorney thurgood marshall's victory in brown vs. board of education. the democratic platform did not. it was eisenhower and nixon who got through the 1957 and 1960 civil rights act over the ferocious maneuvering of lyndon b. johnson. but at that point, with thurgood marshall's victories in the supreme court and the republicans pushing through civil rights with dwight eisenhower sending federal troops to enforce marshall's victories down in little rock,
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with bill clinton's friend, orvil favis in the schoolhouse door, the democrats out of political calculation had to pretend to care about civil rights. the first civil rights legislation ever pushed by a democrat was in 1964 act yet and still far more republicans voted for it in the house and the senate. in both houses it was about 80% republican, 60% democrat. the republicans who opposed it opposed it for constitutional grounds. they had voted for every other civil rights bill. not so the democrats and they were not conservative democrats. they were liberal democrats. j. william fullbright, bill clinton's mentor, big supporter of the u.n., albert gore sr. gore's father. and all of these characters by the way were ferocious opponents of joe mccarthy. and the longest -- and robert byrd had 100% rating from naral pro-choice america. so do not believe the lie that these were conservative
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democrats who were waiting for a wink from nixon to become republicans. it was only one in 18 liberal democratic segregationists who became republican. that was strom thurmond and he's the only one whose name you know. just one more point on the southern strategy. this is -- this lie is pulled off by describing the entire south as if it were one state. no, the outer southern states and the dixiecrat states in the middle. republicans -- and the southern strategy is this idea that republicans had a secretly appealed to the democratic segregationists and the dixiecrats and suddenly we swept the south. no. republicans swept the south when the dixiecrats died out. something that's provable by looking at the history. republicans had been winning the outer southern states. texas. tennessee. kentucky. west virginia. virginia. north carolina. and florida. since the 1920's. warren harding did pretty well there. her better hoover won most of those states. eisenhower twice. nixon in 1960.
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all of this you will know, this is before 1964. even when reagan won landslide elections, he did worse or actually lost the dixiecrat states and who did reagan do best with in the south? college students. the people in the south who weren't even born when strom thurmond was running and were oh about 3 years old when barry goldwater was running. we won the south when the dixiecrats died out. they were liberal democrats. >> this question from donna on twitter. you wrote a book about black people. how long did you live as a black person to get the facts for your book? >> it's not about black people. was it donna? it's a book about white liberals. and how they lie to america. about race relations. patronize blacks. and really -- and really have made any sort of -- even when advances are made, they're right back to demagoguing black -- or demagoguing white people and patronizing black people. it is a book about white liberals and on that, i am a specialist. >> ricardo is up next for ann
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coulter. fairfield, california. democrat there. good morning. >> hey, man. how can you wear that cross around your neck after you had an abortion as a teenage girl? you cannot deny the facts of your life. >> what? >> yeah, man. you can't -- >> do we have a call screener? thanks. but i have not had an abortion. but thanks for the call. >> there's a story about abortion in this paper this morning. and since contraceptives and women's issues have been in the news so much i thought i would bring it to the table. study, free birth control cut abortions. this is in "usa today" this morning and an experimental project that gave free birth control to 9,000 teen girls and women in one metropolitan area resulted in a dramatic decrease in abortions and teen pregnancies and a new study shows. it wasn't just the free part that led to rates below national averages. they also credit the long active highly effective methods of contraception chosen by 75% of the participants, namely i.u.d. cease and hormonal implants. the findings come as control sk
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available to more women under the much debated provision of the new federal health care law. >> well, i wasn't alive and in the argument back when the pill was being introduced. but i do understand that there were arguments smade mostly by conservatives and i suppose christians that with the wide availability of birth control, you would not only have an increase in -- well, premarital sex which leads to venereal diseases and unwanted pregnancy, so once you're already in it, once you're 30 years down that road, the difference from 2008 to 2012 is really irrelevant. the difference pre availability of birth control and what the illegitimacy rates were back then and what the venereal disease rate back then versus now is staggering.
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staggering. so the idea that, well, if it's $20, people are less likely to get it and lower the illegitimacy rate from 40% to 39%, well, congratulations. i would really like to go back to 3%. and i'm sorry. just one other thing. if i had had an abortion, i could still be a christian. that is kind. point of christianity. i shouldn't say that's why i can wear the cross. >> howard is up next in mussel shoals, alabama. an independent. good morning. >> good morning. ann, a pleasure to talk to you. you're one of the thinking people in this world. are you there? >> we're listening. >> unhafment >> -- >> uh-huh. >> what i wanted to talk to you about was leadership in the white house. i think it is terrible. obama is about the worst leader i've ever seen. i would rather have a leader that changes his mind occasionally, what they call
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flip-flopping. than one that passes the buck at every turn. won't take responsibility for anything. years ago, two colleges done some research. this was back in the late 1940's or early 1950's on making decisions. and i remember reading about this in military training manuals years ago. and that if -- if you make decisions with your mind, thinking things through, you'll be right 75% of the time. and making decisions with your heart you'll be wrong 50% of the time. >> thank you, howard. >> well, i don't know about heart versus head, but i completely agree with you on flip-flopping. mitt romney flip-flop on abortion.
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i am happy about that. he has not changed his position on anything else of any substance. i agree with obama that he is rigid and will not change his mind. the comparison is to bill clinton who had a democratic house and senate when he first came in. he tried to pass national health care and america responded by voting in a republican congress. that was the republican revolution of 1994 and we saw and about face with bill clinton. the american people will not approve of his policy and that is when bill clinton became a dlc democrats and signed pretty
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much everything that the congress sent to him. that is the congress the democrats are bragging about. obama has to go back to the clinton era. it was when the republican congress came in in january of 1995 and past welfare reform and all sorts of new and fantastic criminal law provisions. guest: the idea that what people do not know about obama it is racist is a preposterous.
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where was all this love for blacks and high public positions when clarence thomas was nominated to the supreme court? how about 1 condoleezza rice was the first black female secretary of state? democrats do not like obama because he is black. they like him because he is left-wing. and his proposal to raise taxes -- they can call them racist. that's what democrats like about obama. they couldn't care less he is half black. caller: i have two questions. i wonder if there is a two- tiered justice system in this
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country. thousands and thousands of dollars while on the terrorist watch list. muslims get prosecuted for the same thing. i have another question. guest: that is not my interest. a're in the middle of presidential election. i just wrote this book. that is outside what i'm interested in. caller: do you think mitt romney will roll back the surveillance state? they are building a computer center in utah that is going to be directed at us.
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do you think romney will roll back the surveillance state? guest: we are against a fascist state at home because we want to be strong abroad. host: russell in south carolina. caller: good morning. it is always a pleasure to talk to the people at c-span. my comment with ann and the republicans -- it is amazing how she can just ignore the civil-rights movement and the voter rights bill. the voting rights bill actually changed the seven democrats in south carolina, mississippi, alabama, tennessee. a lot of states.
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97% of the republicans in south carolina used to be democrats before black people got the right to vote. that is an amazing statistic that i didn't hear anybody talking about. everyone is talking about how we to turn everything to the state, ithout regard as to what the states have done in the history. she ignored that also in her book. the state has vagrancy laws. corporations have continued to enslave black people way past slavery. even douglas blackmun has
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written a book about that. host: have you read her book? caller: no. guest: the 1976 election. look at the dark area. that is the democrats for jimmy carter. it was the south he carried. host: a question from "the new republic." guest: so by voter suppression, he means not being able to walk up and vote without a photo i'd. i think he would be clear if the said, why do republicans need a voter i'd. to vote?
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if you put it that way, i think people would laugh. register state to state? it has nothing to do with black people and involves slandering black people. but they do not care because they start slopping the civil- rights label on gay marriage and abortion on demand and another cause the democrats believe in is voter fraud. they are famous for it. it appears the election of our franken in minnesota when his
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opponent and that the next day with about 500 more votes than out franken democrats kept finding more votes for al franken and he wound up winning by a few hundred votes. there have been more than 100 convictions for voter fraud. more than 1000 of the votes from that election are being investigated in democratic areas. democrats want to keep engaging in voter fraud. they love black people so much. black people are too stupid to get voter id. that's their argument. host: related to that, a question --
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guest: yes. great point. this is not something i have written about but i read some of this. our servicemen in afghanistan are requesting their ballots and have not been able to get them. it is about 20% of the military vote compared to in past election. they are not being sent down. this is the united states military and they are not getting their ballots this year. host: next call from massachusetts. caller: i hope you do well with your book.
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barack obama was not the first black president to run. alan keyes ran twice. number two, lincoln. lincoln freed the saves. margaret sanger started it planned parenthood. i hope the black people wake up. guest: yes, well, by and large, blacks are far more conservative and things like abortion. margaret sanger was the founder of planned parenthood. i would also say that black people are right -- i agree with their position.
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the devastating impacts of the black community over the absence of marriage in so many households -- blacks at a higher marriage rate than white people. this is not a legacy of slavery. there is nothing that has been as devastating to the family as the great society program. the vast majority of black people oppose gay marriage because this is another liberal attack of the institution of marriage. they have come at it with no- fault divorce laws and now
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they're coming out with the gays. host: we see ann coulter a lot on this network. she went to the university of michigan law school where she was an editor of the michigan law review. she was on the senate judiciary staff. private law practice in new york city. her latest book is called "mugged." host: we have a tweet. guest: that means telling the truth about a candidate. it is a term from a book. host: john from pennsylvania.
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caller: i wish c-span we do a series on the platforms of the republican party and the democrat party. i think it would clear a lot of stuff up. the republican party was the poet that stood up against polygamy and mormonism. the mormons had hundreds of christians as they went to california and landed on the native americans because they had -- brigham young had more than 50 wives and more than 12- year-old lives than warren jeffs had. concerning the amount of money that goes to the oil subsidies.
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guest: can we take one at a time? let's stick with the mormon bashing. that goes back to my earlier answer on gay marriage. this country almost fought a civil war against the mormons because of polygamy. people understand it the start understanding the definition of marriage than it means nothing. "the new york times" and others who have pushed gay marriage are leaping out -- and why should you have to be monogamous? let's redefine -- that's what marriage is. this has nothing to do with being anti woman, and the feminist was demanding no-fault
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divorce. it is deep in america's bones to oppose polygamy. it was blood in it that drove the market to drive the mormons out of the country. we are a target country when it comes to an unusual religion. host: this is following up with your definition about abortion rights. [laughter] guest: never understand why this is a hard concept to grasp. we want enough government so people are not killed in the womb. that doesn't mean we want the government to make this go
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through 18 hours of procedures to change the awning in front of the store. host: 114,000 jobs created in september and the unemployment rate going down, 7.8%. guest: yet it's still higher than the day obama took office. that excludes all the people that have given up looking for work. it is still higher than the day he took office. host: with the trend going down, how do you think it will play politically? guest: 23 million people are out of work. the country is suffering. maybe they do not know on capitol hill.
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people know that people are not working are working at far less jobs than they had a few years ago. we have to get the country going again. host: teresa in florida. caller: you just about talked out the clock. most of us heard what romney said on tape, 47% of americans being deadbeats. guest: he did not say that. he did not say "deadbeats." he said 47% do not pay income tax. there is your headline. caller: you brag governor romney was clever.
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when somebody lies so well -- guest: that was a joke. that is what we call in the right thing business a joke. host: we are out of time. where are you going on your book tour and what reaction do you get? guest: i travel a lot and give a lot of speeches. host: it all blends in. guest: i'm doing a book signing today on 12th street. i will be in los angeles for a few days doing it book signing in pomona.
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and a book signing in philadelphia on october 25. and a book signing in new york on november 1. i do not like to travel. host: this book is focusing on race. how our audience is reacting? guest: the entire mainstream media is pretending this book does not exist. i got more attention with my first book when i was working at a law firm. this is a more aggressive attack on the mainstream media then my second book was. i think they do not want people to read it. host: thank you for being here. the book is called "mugged." ann coulter has it web page and
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it twitter feed. thank you for being here. the unemployment rate has dropped to 7.8%. what is your reaction to this for the country and politically?
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guest: for the country, any drop in those numbers is important. i think joblessness is the real crisis. i worry. i think president obama did save this country from the great depression. his advisers did not foresee the great dropped. the programs were not as scale to deal with the jobless this we see today. i worry about -- this grand bargain of the elite. we have consigned this country to a new normal. full employment is officially
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5.5% and i think this country has the spirit and creativity and innovation to make sure that all americans have a good job and that to be our aspiration. politically, i think these numbers tell president obama. people are hardened into their corners. sometimes think not to be too cute about this. i would like to come back as a woman swing voter in iowa. we're seeing that targeting of the 2%, 3%. i think these numbers will play a role. the hardening of this election
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is in place. host: the focus of the cover on your magazine and that is the next president possibility to make his selection for the supreme court. i'm wondering what your view is of the current makeup of the court and which direction it will go as the new term opens this week in light of the vote on health care. guest: your viewers can see that cover. often the court is viewed through the prism through hot- button social issues like abortion, guns, criminal defense issues. this is very much about the election where we have four supreme court justices over the age of 70.
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we have a court which has in many ways favored the corporations, the very rich over ordinary people come in. the axis of workers to the court. in the defining decision, citizens united was on president in unleashing the power of corporate money in enhancing the power of money, the very rich in our politics. the court is a player. the problem is that progressives have not understood the power of the courts as have the conservative movement, the right-wing movement. the courts to their decisions that are not just dry decisions. not giving them the time of day and leaving the president.
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one would have thought after bush v. gore that it would be laughable to hear the right wing jesses to say they are not -- in a democratic country you had a supreme court stopped the counting of votes on behalf of a man, later a president -- those justices had been appointed by his father. this is america's oldest continuing published weekly. we were around during the roosevelt era when roosevelt faced down a supreme court which was prepared to invalidate the great economic legislation of the new deal, trying to roll back child labor laws and other pieces of legislation.
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a switch in time saves nine. justice roberts, a man who knows history, i believe i understood the legitimacy of the supreme court was in the balance. that was in the balance in the health-care. he found a clever way to finesse the decision. he undermined the commerce clause and it is more into a tax decision. the impact on medicaid -- it was good that president obama spoke about the dangers of undercutting medicaid.
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that is still something to watch. roberts saw myself as an institution last and not a member of the gang of four. the medicaid decision is something to watch. host: this is a special segment for us. we have students on board the c-span campaign 2012 bus making a tour through ohio. our bus is at miami university. 10 students will be participating. our thanks to time warner cable for getting us connected. john is our for student at miami university. caller: good morning.
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what can president obama or governor romney due to work with the next congress? do think this will lead to a greater assertion of executive authority in the next term? guest: thank you, john. i did not know i would be facing the toughest questioners. congressional approval is at an all-time low. it is up there with paris hilton and the communist party of russia. i think we need to step back and understand many people in this country see the political system as broken. others -- elizabeth warren --
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have spoken house some money have seen the system rigged against them. there is a few that those who dislike government for the past 40 years have a stake in diminishing the reputation of government, of congress. i would argue that we have seen a movement in these last 40 years to debase role of government. callback and read the book on lyndon johnson. the use or abuse of the filibuster has been used or abuse in the last 10 days or three years more than once in the 1960's 197's combined by the republicans. the president has an opportunity to come back if the republicans decide their first mission it can no longer be with senator jim demint.
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mitch mcconnell said the first priority was to make sure obama was it first term president. there was the possibility of working on different issues. if you have some good progressives reelected -- elizabeth warren -- you have a chance to find partnership on core issues. even something the chamber of commerce signed onto. this country could use an infrastructure bank that would put people back to work and rebuild the infrastructure. with mitt romney, you need somebody to, and that will understand that 47% of americans are not freeloaders
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but part of a political system and a country that deserves the respect. paul ryan has put forward a budget. another of them have fully explain how that would cut tax rates 20% across the board. what kind of loopholes would they find? that is a tough fight to have in a congress where there is a belief in a fair shot. host: next is a caller from iowa, larry. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i watch too often. i have a big problem with
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republicans. i feel they have not paid a political price for the damage that was done to this country. unemployment went down today. the numbers are good. there expressionism is part of the reason we have not seen growth in our economy and is where it is because the republicans. all they do is blame the president. host: thank you. guest: there is no question -- president obama had a jobs bill last year. the republicans had no use for it. it was put aside because they did not want to have the present have a success.
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they were not interested in creating jobs. do they have a jobs plan? there is no record that cutting tax creates jobs. i do think the democrats need to be bolder and put forward many more ideas about how to create jobs. in my mind the democratic party is a coalition of interest. the republican party i think will possibly expire because it has become so extremist. it risks extinction in a country going through such demographic shifts. it is primarily a white, older party to that.
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it doesn't understand how they will operate. they will throw as much money and do the vote suppression which about 11 courts have said we're not going to buy into the idea of bogus voter fraud to impair the greatest rights america has. host: we have 10 students on the bus. all the journalism students are double majors. a quick comment from you as an editor who hires journalists. guest: i think that is a great idea. many journalism schools are going through a crisis of identity. i have believe it is important to have a substantive journalism -- to bring to it and
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expertise. my husband is a political scientist at has taught soviet history for 30 years and was about to be hired by "the new york times." he understood about having an insight special knowledge of a certain area was great. i think our journalism should accommodate that. all power to the students on that bus. host: emily is up next. what is your question? caller: "the new york times" said the president lost the
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first debate. what do thing the president needs to do? guest: i hope you're writing a column about how anthropologist watches that debate. that is a fascinating double major that you have. that was a missed opportunity at the debate. on substance, the president in my mind won. the debate formats did not allow -- calling out mendacity. in the next debate, i think the president is to be more engaged, more passionate about what he cares about and what he has spoken to on the campaign trail, whether it is about fairness are the dangers of inequality, the importance of the middle class.
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i would welcome more talk about america's non-military engagement with the world and poverty. poverty is almost never mentioned and the rates of child poverty aren't unprecedented levels. i think it would be worth it was some discussion about that. president obama needs to be engaged and show he wants to be in that white house and take on romney when romney says, "my plan covers pre-existing conditions." no, it doesn't. host: our next question comes from a caller from georgia, and
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independent. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would like to speak about my frustration with people who allow their ideology to override the reality of the situation. i enjoy political conversations with different types of people. it is almost as if conservatives are in a different universe than i am when we tried to discuss politics. they are baked and harping on the debt and deficits -- they are big on harping on the debt and deficits. instead acknowledging the two wars we have not paid for, medicare part d, and that we have to come up with a way to pay for those, they switched and talking about entitlements.
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that bait and switch is fresh ready to me. we're still at war. i like to hear about a plan to pay. host: we appreciate your call. guest: i'm not sure the people you're describing are most members of the republican party today by what one would call conservative. conservatives had a stake in truth, the enlightenment, rational thought. the current party has waged a war in science. climate denial is horrifying. you cited former vice president dick cheney that deficits do not matter. karl rove said it that we create our own realities. a romney pollsters said we will not be restricted by fact checkers.
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the problem is the policy oriented. the party has been captured by people like grover norquist who is a ferocious anti-tax ideologue who has forced many members of the house and senate to abide by his pledge of no tax increases. where do you get the revenue to help build the country? when people talk about the deficit -- it is not the deficit or debt but joblessness which is the great crisis of our times. the deficit and debt did not arrive from some inaccurate conception.
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two unfunded wars, medicare part d. let them speak to that. mitt romney has it fantastical approach to arithmetic. at the bottom of it, there is a commitment and an ideology to insuring that the top 1% make out real well. those most vulnerable at the bottom of the society who need a helping hand in times of fiscal economic crisis are put aside. it is ideological and i think the term "common-sense" is a terrific one to achieve and try to revive that one as you talk to c-span and agitate your committee. host: let's go back to the bus.
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john, what is your question? >> how is mitt romney going to be able to win independent voters after he alienated them in the primary? guest: i think that debate over night, which you watched as a student of political science and journalism -- he pivoted to some of the positions that he explicitly set aside during the primaries, where he became truly one of the most -- there were others, rick santorum and newt gingrich -- extremist candidates on key issues that appeal to independents. one of the most interesting things in this election is the growing gender gap.
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you are too young, but many in 1992 called it the year of the woman, because of the showdown between anita hill and at then- being-confirmed justice clarence thomas. where were the women's voices? you had that sense when georgetown student sandra fluke was called to testify on contraception and it was an all- male panel. would you imagine that in the 21st century that contraception would be raised as a polarizing issue, where todd akin is talking about legitimate rape. that has led to the fact that independent women are alienated by these extremists.
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we're not talking about abortion, which i think is a right and should be in this country. we're talking about women's health issues, calls to defund planned parenthood, to fight over contraception. these are linked to women's economic security. in that context, your question is right, that independent women influencing states have been pushed away. in virginia, a key swing state, president obama a week ago was leading by 19%. in ohio he is leading by women by considerable numbers. it is that constituency which is so critical.
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did you hear the woman, the word "woman" used at all during the debate last night? that was a measure not only of president obama's this engagement, but mitt romney not wanting to bring in up, and jim lehrer, i don't know what was going on. host: laura is a republican. hi, laura, you are on. caller: i wanted to say to katrina, if you want to talk about common sense policies, maybe you need to listen to rush limbaugh and maybe you need to really listen to what mr. romney said about this economy. if you are concerned about poverty, do you know that the number one group trapped in poverty is single female households? you need to look at stuff that the conservatives are saying because they care about the poor. they don't want people trapped in poverty. they don't want small businesses, which employs 60- 70% of the citizens in this country, taxed more.
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if you tax small business, they are not going to hire. don'tt know how you figure out what mr. romney so eloquently said in that debate. talking about politics of the 1% or the 47%, conservatives want the best for all folks, and yes, we mean we don't want them trapped in poverty. we want them married, paying their taxes -- host: we will get katrina vanden heuvel's response. guest: yeah. listen, if marriage will promote the well-being of the couple, children, great. but in my mind, it is and not just that.
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that is too simplistic. it is part of the equation. without good jobs, without ensuring that workers have rights at a time when big business is so powerful, without doing small things that happened around this country but have taken too much effort, giving women, families early child care, the sense of a community coming together to lift up families, marriage is not sufficient. to reduce it to that is too simplistic. no one is saying marriage isn't important. it is not the only a factor in building a family that is doing well. the fact that jobs to date are low-paying is a terrible problem, and i would link this to the poverty issue. we have a terrific weekly feature at thenation.com called
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"this week in poverty," were you read about the lives of people who are struggling. some of them are being paid below minimum wage. i believe the minimum wage, if you do it to inflation -- the idea of a living wage. the fact that you have children growing up in poverty has a lot to do with the fact that this country is not producing well paying jobs right now. to me, that requires common sense initiatives, creativity, and all of us working together to understand why tax cuts are not going to do it. when was the last time a tax cut bill to abridge or created a job? it can help but it is not sufficient. the big businesses in the country, corporate powers, are sitting on $2 trillion in cash reserves.
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the argument many of them use that it is at time of uncertainty and they don't know what to do is the last refuge of scoundrels. they should be patriotic and creating jobs to lift everyone out. there is this view that if you speak about corporate power, the 1% -- we would be a country of 100%, but we are not there yet -- you are "anti-business." i'm not anti-business, but i think that business has become untethered from communities, from a sense of commitment to people in communities. it's only commitment is to more and more profit and to shareholders.
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there are different ways of doing business. rick perry and gingrich spoke quite well in the primaries about vulture capitalism. there are different kinds of capitalism. it is simply the allocation of capital. it should invest in workers and communities and in building up families. host: amanda is a political science and journalism major and a senior at miami university. thanks for waiting. you are on now. >> good morning. many political pundits and analysts have claimed that romney has been very vague and avoided talking about specifics. if you agree, why to you agree that he has avoided telling the nation is true plans? guest: thank you for that question. no, i think there has been a kind of duck and cover in the way that president romney -- i'm sorry, candidate romney -- has campaigned. if people learn about the full
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nature of the tax plan, they would, one, not support it, or actually it recoil. 60-7% of americans support medicare, support social security, what does that mean? having the richest in this country pay their fair share. i think there is an awareness that, for example, the ryan budget, is not popular with the voters and the american people. there's a lot of smoothing and a duck and cover in order to sell something other than what is actually on the table. host: thanks very much. let's take a call from loretta. she is watching us in cleveland, a democrat there. caller: good morning, ladies. katrina, i agree with you.
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we remember the box of rocks that bush left obama when he came into office. i am shocked by how the media has given the republicans a pass, because when bush came into office, clinton left him a $5.60 trillion surplus. bush gave it away to his billionaire buddies. that was 2001. in 2003, bush gave republican job creators $3.50 trillion for jobs, but we got [indiscernible] 2008. that is a whole year. president obama was then-senator obama -- guest: your command of the numbers is terrific. the question about the media. it is linked, let's be honest -- you have to have strong
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voices inside the democratic party and strong voices outside in the movements of our time and independent media to call the mainstream media, and we can discuss what mainstream media means, but there is a mainstream establishment media which has as its working premise the idea of the cult of balance, something our media columnist, eric alterman, has written a lot about. if someone went on to the floor of congress and said the earth is flat, the media would write about both sides as if both were true. i mentioned norm ornstein earlier. he is no liberal progressive. he is sort of right of center, he is at the american enterprise institute. thomas mann at brookings wrote a book that had a large section
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about the failures of the media to call out untruths. we have a lot more fact checking in the media, which has its ups and downs. at the debate last night, they fact-checked obama on the $5 trillion deficit, which was truly the romney mendacity -- on romney's front, i forget what they were fact checking but it was much more serious. you need voices inside and outside the democratic party, citizens of conscience, to call out when they hear the media not getting to the bottom of the issue. our media, let's be honest, has
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treated the campaign as a horse race. look at the debate. as i mentioned earlier, it was treated more like a theater performance than actually grappling with the substance. president obama, if you look of the coverage, i'm sure 92% of it had more to do with how disengaged he was than the actual substance. that is not helping for a country that prides itself on being a democracy with engaged and knowledgeable citizens. host: we are almost out of time. i will try to get two students in. guest: i will be brief. host: bolivia is a political science major. >> my question has to do with the rhetoric involving "the war on women" and the recent article he wrote. is it fair to classify women as one voting bloc and that we all like the same things? guest: no, i don't think any
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group in our society is a monolithic bloc. but i do think we have seen a concerted assault on women's rights, and i am not just talking about reproductive rights, but on economic rights. if you think about, for example, candidate romney's attacks on president obama and how he contributed to women's job losses, many of those losses came about under bush and then continued and reduced under president obama. the term that has been demonized by governors like gov. scott walker of wisconsin, gov. kasich of ohio -- the teachers, nurses, women working in the public sector have lost their jobs due to the failure of commitment for the federal government to give money to the states in this
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time of crisis, which president obama supported. but you know, i think you'd see independent women, as i said before, a growing block of women, not just progressives or democrats, democratic women, who do worry about the fact that their daughter, for example, might not have access to planned parenthood, which, by the way, is really about women's health, mammograms, and not just these hot-button issues of reproductive choice. so i do think the independent women voters are the canary in the coal mined in terms of the seeing a republican party that is not hospitable or open to women's health rights, and linked to that in order to control your economic destiny you need to control your health. host: michael is a political science major.
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>> i will begin with the article that ran on "the nation" front- page. why have appointments gone by the wayside in this election? guest: president obama has faced obstruction but has not been as engaged with putting forward judges. by the way, the supreme court today may be years 2% of cases in this country. the docket is growing smaller and smaller, shrinking, and there is an impact of president obama not pushing as many judges through as bush did. the courts are so important, and they should be discussed in this campaign.
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i hope in this next debate -- it is important that this has gone under the radar. the presidents are not just individuals. they come with advisers. president reagan's nominee robert bork was rejected by the senate for being way out of the mainstream in this country. he did not believe the equal protection clause applies to women. he is opposed to the voting rights act and the silver rights act of 1964. and he believed that corporations are people. he would play a very destructive role in a court of common sense, fairness, justice, diversity of equality and opportunity. those are not left-right issues. i think we need to take a hard look at the courts and the political intensity gap, where the right does understand the court and its powers but the progressive, liberal democratic

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